If you watched it on DVR, you killed Studio 60
When the first reports starting coming out about Nielsen’s new “live plus seven” ratings, and the boost they’ve given to the numbers for Journeyman, struggling new occupant of Studio 60’s old spot, it made me wonder: Would this kind of appreciation have helped Sorkin’s show?
Journeyman picked up a million extra viewers in this revised estimate, making it one of the top beneficiaries, certainly among new shows. Does this mean that Monday at 10 p.m. is a hard time for many folks to catch a show live? Looks like it: According to a Media Life Magazine report from last November, “The live-plus-seven-day rating for NBC’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is 136 percent higher than its live rating in DVR homes.” That sounds like a pretty hefty ratings boost to me.
Would it have been enough to save the show? This blogger thinks so, and I’d like to believe it, too. But I don’t think it was just ratings that killed Studio 60, but the groundswell of critical lambasting and mockery it received, combined, probably, with its cost. Still, it would have been nice to have those numbers included and appreciated, and if they kept up this high throughout the season, who knows, maybe NBC would have given it some extra time.
What I’m really going to take away from this, though, is the feeling that if you really love a show, and you want it to succeed, and it’s struggling, and especially if you have a Nielsen box, for goodness sake, watch that puppy live. Record it if you must, for future rewatches and adoration, but make the time commitment to view it when it airs and talk it up right after. Barring a schedule snafu or night job, our enthusiasm for something as great as Studio 60 should probably make it impossible to wait a second more than one week to see what’s next.
If your audience is 136 percent more likely to watch your show sometime, later, whenever it’s convenient, instead of right when delivered, maybe that’s not necessarily such a good sign.
Photo of DVR remote by Terri Mauro
Studio 60, NBC, DVR, Journeyman
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